MILWAUKEE, Wis. — In the last week, more than 400 parents have signed letters to Milwaukee Public Schools demanding Sean Kane, the person in charge of MPS' lead clean up, to resign.
Tuesday, TMJ4's Jenna Rae broke the news about the state's investigation into Kane and the fines he has to pay for being hired without the proper license.
Watch: MPS director of lead clean-up under fire for unlicensed hiring amid lead crisis
New paperwork shows what Kane told the state is actually different than what he previously told Rae.
"Yes, as we went over it before, yes, they've been deemed safe even working with the health department," Kane said on February 11.
A promise of safety, dating back to February.
"Any time this was brought to our attention that we have addressed it immediately, and right now, just remind everyone, according to the health department, our buildings are deemed safe," Kane reiterated.
In a February press conference, Kane doubled down that MPS' buildings are safe.
Since then, several schools recorded unsafe lead levels, some of them required to close down until they pass inspections.
While this was happening, we learned Kane was hired without proper credentials.
"When we have someone in a position that directly relates to the crisis we're currently seeing, and we find out they're not qualified, or maybe let their license lapse... that's a big problem," MPS parent, Ron Jansen, said.
On February 14, TMJ4 reported Kane was hired as MPS' facilities director without the required license. Here's what he had to say then.
"Whose responsibility do you think it was to ensure your license was intact before you were appointed and approved for this position," Rae asked Kane on February 14.
"I would honestly think it's human resources," Kane responded.
"So, there was no indication that you should've been checking that your license was in good standing before being in this position," Rae rebutted.
"Not from my understanding. Again, I honestly thought my license was active during that whole time," Kane answered.
TMJ4 is now learning, two days before that interview, Kane signed a final decision and order from the Department of Safety and Professional Services.
The order shows on February 12, two days before the interview with Rae, Kane acknowledged it was his responsibility to ensure his registration status remained active.
"What you're telling me clearly demonstrates that he's willfully lying, and I think that's a huge issue," Jansen said.
"I think it's just another sort of piece of evidence that this person is not trustworthy to lead this department that is really responsible for cleaning up these buildings," parent Kristen Payne said.
Payne is the founder of Lead Safe Schools MKE. She, along with other community groups and parents are calling for Kane to step down.
"The fact that he couldn't be bothered to have a valid license for a position that it was required for... and then on top of that he was overseeing the department for facilities and maintenance that did not do the necessary things to keep our children safe, how much more do we need before we say enough is enough," Payne pleaded.
"His continued involvement in the crisis is destroying trust between parents and MPS. Parents are gonna have a hard time sending kids back to these buildings if they don't believe they're safe," Jansen added.
Rae talked on the phone with Kane Wednesday. He said before answering any questions, he had to speak with MPS' communications director. We never heard back.
A spokesperson for the district sent us the following statement:
"Milwaukee Public Schools is aware of the decision made by the Department of Safety and Professional Services regarding registration for employment. Superintendent Brenda Cassellius is committed to putting every available resource in place to ensure every school in our district is healthy and safe. At her direction, the district continues to work in collaboration with the Milwaukee Health Department to finalize our lead action plan and is thoroughly reviewing every aspect of the lead remediation work to inform our path forward. In accordance with District policy and Federal and State law, the district does not comment on the circumstances of our individual staff members."
Parents said they stand by their decision in asking for Kane to step down.
"At this point, how many more sort of sanctions or disciplinary actions to see to believe that we need a change here," Payne said.
If there's something you want investigated you can email Jenna.Rae@tmj4.com.
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